(CBS/AP) A widely-watched housing index released Tuesday showed home prices dropping by the sharpest rate ever in the second quarter.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index tumbled a record 15.4 percent during the quarter from the same period a year ago.
The monthly indices also clocked in record declines. The 20-city index fell by 15.9 percent in June compared with a year ago, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index plunged 17 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history.
No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw year-over-year price gains in June, the third straight month that's happened.
However, the rate of single-family home price declines slowed from May to June, a possible silver lining, the index creators said.
While prices continued to fall, the rate of decline may be slowing in certain areas, as noted in June's declines of 0.6 percent for the 10-City Composite and 0.5 percent for the 20-City Composite. "While still falling, these are far less than the 2-2.5 percent monthly drops seen earlier in 2008," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P.
"While there is no national turnaround in residential real estate prices, it is possible that we are seeing some regions struggling to come back, which has resulted in some moderation in price declines at the national level" said Blitzer.
In June, nine of the 20 cities tracked (Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and New York) were up month-to-month, compared with seven cities in May.
"Nevertheless, not one market is showing a positive return over the past 12 months, and seven of the metro areas are reporting declines in excess of 20.0 percent," Blitzer said.
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